The game is not about belonging to an elite, it's about overcoming the presented challenges, exploring a highly atmospheric world and improving along the way.

The game does not hold your hand, but it isn't unfair either. This makes overcoming the challenges extremely rewarding. In the beginning you might die often, but when you start to adapt and think about your surrounding you will die a lot less. Unless you are invaded by some d*ckhead, but that's another story. And the feeling of beating a section in the beginning of the game in half an hour that took you hours before is incredible.

The community is a lot less elitist and really helpful. Try /r/darksouls on reddit for example. I bet most people that rage about how hard the game is and how badass they are have not even finished the game.

If you don't play this you are no casual filth or anything like that - (have you ever seen the Bejeweled casuals, crazy I tell you) - but you are mising out on a great game.

That said - I have already preordered the game for PC and cannot wait. Praise The Sun!

Respectable score. Even if it was everything im hoping it too be i dont think it could of scored more as it really isnt casual friendly and that will down score it a little.
Cant wait for the 25th April when the PC version is out with 4 times higher texture rez! :D

I certainly play dark souls for the story. The gameplay itself is quite fun on it's own but the only reason I went back again and again and again was to find out more about the world and the characters and the bosses and what happened to them all those years ago. If dark souls didn't have such a great story, I would not have stuck with it. The gameplay is secondary to me. I can see how some players are unhappy with the ways it's presented but from the two hours I played of DS2 before work, they certainly went the opposite way and are giving players tons of exposition and dialogue (partly to teach new players the game mechanics) but this might not be such a great thing. Part of the magic of the first two souls games was the large amounts of mystery to everything.

Originally Posted by SinxarKnightsDark Souls isn't nearly as difficult as most people make it out to be and a lot of misconceptions hover around the game. So I take it you never actually played the first one Hustler?

I'd say it's more of reviewers not really digging deep into what the "challenge" of the game truly is.

The idea of a game where you can actually die is foreign to many gamers. The Souls games openly expect players to die, it's part of the game design. This is why many get confused about its "difficulty". Dying is not the same as failing in these games and many misunderstand that.

A highly skilled Demon's and Dark Souls player I know has already beaten DkS2 on a less-than-legal copy and had over 100 deaths on the new in-game tracker. You are designed to die, it's not a bad thing.

The multiplayer problems only existed on the PC and were due to Games Fail Windows Live (duh). DS2 is using Steamworks, so we should be fine.

I have not read the review to avoid spoilers (Sorry Rick! I'm sure ist great!) but I am hoping the new game will do a better job at teaching the game mechanics to new players. Dark Souls did teach almost every game mechanic, but it never bothered to explain the importance of said mechanics. Such as: Leveling is not that important, but if you don't upgrade your gear you die. Quite the opposite to other RPGs.

I'll play the game for its' atmosphere and mystery. There are so many things to discover. Did you know you can slide down ladders in the first game? Did you also know that you will fall down if you have zero stamina?

By the time I got to the last section, it seemed I didn't have nearly enough levels to continue. Since they took the servers offline years ago, it's no longer possible to do any multiplayer stuff, so it seems like my only option is to grind for levels. I estimated that it would take at least a month of grinding and reluctantly gave up.

I haven't played Dark Souls for the same reason (I have a brand new copy for PS3 sitting on my shelf unopened). I'd really like to know from Dark Souls players, is it possible to finish the game without significant grinding or a lot of multiplayer?

Dark Souls is more gear dependent then level dependent. There have been quite a few people who have finished the game on level one, but all of them have upgraded their weapons and armor.

That said it depends on your play style and how good you are of course. If you are anything like me you might end up loosing all your souls right before you need them to proceed in the story. Then you might have to grind for an hour, maybe even two if you want to play it safe.

Originally Posted by Aterius GmorkDark Souls is more gear dependent then level dependent. There have been quite a few people who have finished the game on level one, but all of them have upgraded their weapons and armor.

That said it depends on your play style and how good you are of course. If you are anything like me you might end up loosing all your souls right before you need them to proceed in the story. Then you might have to grind for an hour, maybe even two if you want to play it safe.

Thanks for the reply.

I'll have to crack open my Dark Souls when I get some time then. A few hours of grinding is fine, just not a month!